Venezuela Does Not Produce Millions of Barrels a Day for the US
VENEZUELA · FACT CHECK
Key Facts
- —The claim That the United States extracts millions and millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil every day.
- —The quote No Trump statement using that per-day phrasing could be verified. His documented remarks concern reserves, not daily output.
- —Actual production Venezuela produces around 1.2 million barrels a day in total, all producers and all destinations.
- —Actual US imports 630,000 barrels a day in June 2026, the latest reported month, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
- —The gap The claim overstates total Venezuelan production by roughly four times and the US-bound share by eight to ten.
- —The verdict False on any reading of the numbers.
This story is part of our coverage of the Venezuela US tensions. Who runs Venezuela, the US sanctions and oil deals, the Maduro case and the odds are in our dossier.
Venezuela’s entire national output is barely above one million barrels a day. No arithmetic makes millions and millions of them American.
A claim that the United States extracts millions and millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela every day has circulated this week. Venezuela’s entire national production is around 1.2 million barrels a day, and the United States takes roughly half of it.
What Was Actually Said
The Rio Times could not verify any statement by President Trump using the millions and millions formulation with a per-day frame.
The nearest documented quotation is from a rally in Las Vegas on 5 August 2026: billions and billions of barrels of oil is coming out of Venezuela, which he called one of the most fertile places for oil in the world. That is a claim about reserves, not about a flow rate.
A Truth Social post of 28 to 29 August referred to majority United States control of more than 65 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which is again a reserves figure. Earlier statements referred to specific cargoes: between 30 and 50 million barrels to be turned over, in January, and 80 million barrels received, in February.
Reserves and daily production are different quantities by a factor of tens of thousands, and the per-day version of the claim does not appear in any recording The Rio Times could locate.
What Venezuela Actually Produces
Venezuelan crude output is around 1.2 million barrels a day. OPEC secondary sources put it at 1.031 million barrels a day in April 2026, against PDVSA’s own figure of 1.136 million, with the difference arising from how natural-gas liquids and condensate are counted.
The United States Under Secretary of Energy, Kyle Haustveit, put national output at roughly 1.25 million barrels a day speaking in Houston in August. Exports ran at about 1.17 million barrels a day in August, broadly flat on the previous month.
That is total production. Every barrel Venezuela lifts, for every customer, amounts to a little over one million a day.
What the United States Actually Imports
The Energy Information Administration’s monthly series shows United States imports of Venezuelan crude at 630,000 barrels a day in June 2026, the latest reported month.
The trajectory through 2026 runs 200,000 in January, 231,000 in February, 373,000 in March, 429,000 in April, 471,000 in May and 630,000 in June. For comparison, the figure was 7,000 barrels a day in July 2025 and 137,000 in December.
Haustveit described the flow as more than 500,000 barrels a day, or just over 40% of Venezuelan output. That is a large share of a small number.
Doing the Arithmetic
Millions and millions implies at least three million barrels a day, and probably more. Venezuela produces about 1.2 million, so the claim overstates the country’s entire output by roughly four times.
Measured against what actually reaches the United States, somewhere between 500,000 and 630,000 barrels a day, the overstatement is closer to eight or ten times.
The claim is false on either reading, and the direction of the error is consistent: it describes a Venezuela that produces several times what it does.
Why the Real Numbers Are Still Notable
A rise from 7,000 barrels a day in July 2025 to 630,000 in June 2026 is a ninety-fold increase inside a year, and it represents a genuine reordering of where Venezuelan crude goes.
Venezuelan heavy crude is also well matched to United States Gulf Coast refineries configured for it, which is why the volumes moved so quickly once the policy allowed them to.
The accurate story is large enough on its own. It does not require the exaggeration, and the exaggeration makes the real figures harder to discuss.
More: Venezuela news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much oil does Venezuela produce?
Around 1.2 million barrels a day in total, according to OPEC secondary sources and PDVSA.
How much goes to the United States?
630,000 barrels a day in June 2026, the latest month reported by the Energy Information Administration.
Did Trump say millions of barrels a day?
The Rio Times could not verify that phrasing. His documented remarks refer to reserves, including billions of barrels and 65 billion barrels of proven reserves.
Is the claim true?
No. It overstates total Venezuelan production by roughly four times and the US-bound share by eight to ten.
Has the flow changed?
Sharply. US imports rose from 7,000 barrels a day in July 2025 to 630,000 in June 2026.
Sources: US Energy Information Administration, OPEC, Al Jazeera, Mediaite, FactCheck.org.
This article was drafted with automated assistance and reviewed before publication. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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